"The violets in the mountains have broken the rocks". These words grace the headstone of Tennessee Williams, one of those profiled in this fascinating look at the lives, deaths and burial places of well-known St. Louisans. "Final Resting Place" includes short biographies as well as descriptions and maps of the city's largest cemeteries, Bellefontaine and Calvary. Throughout the text are historical items such as the Mississippi River island where duels were fought, a dramatic plane crash that killed a mayor and his staff, and the elaborate funerals of the Busch family. From the poet T.S. Eliot to sports editor Bob Burnes; from explorer William Clark to World's Fair promoter David Francis; from Civil War general William Sherman to airplane builder James McDonnell; from slave Dred Scott to Negro League baseball player James "Cool Papa" Bell; from St. Rose Phillipine Duchesne to Archbishop John May; from entertainer Josephine Baker to actress Betty Grable; from brewers Adolphus Busch to William Lemp, author Kevin Amsler weaves the stories of these prominent people into the rich history of the city.

In the span of five violent hours on August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina destroyed major Gulf Coast cities and flattened 150 miles of coastline. Yet those wind-torn hours represented only the first stage of the relentless triple tragedy that Katrina brought to the entire Gulf Coast, from Louisiana to Mississippi to Alabama. First came the hurricane, one of the three strongest ever to make landfall in the United States -- 150-mile- per-hour winds, with gusts measuring more than 180 miles per hour ripping buildings to pieces. Second, the storm-surge flooding, which submerged a half million homes, creating the largest domestic refugee crisis since the Civil War. Eighty percent of New Orleans was under water, as debris and sewage coursed through the streets, and whole towns in south-eastern Louisiana ceased to exist. And third, the human tragedy of government mis-management, which proved as cruel as the natural disaster itself. Ray Nagin, the mayor of New Orleans, implemented an evacuation plan that favored the rich and healthy. Kathleen Blanco, governor of Louisiana, dithered in the most important aspect of her job: providing leadership in a time of fear and confusion. Michael C. Brown, the FEMA director, seemed more concerned with his sartorial splendor than the specter of death and horror that was taking New Orleans into its grip. In The Great Deluge, bestselling author Douglas Brinkley, a New Orleans resident and professor of history at Tulane University, rips the story of Katrina apart and relates what the Category 3 hurricane was like from every point of view. The book finds the true heroes -- such as Coast Guard officer Jimmy Duckworth and hurricane jock Tony Zumbado. Throughout the book, Brinkley lets the Katrina survivors tell their own stories, masterly allowing them to record the nightmare that was Katrina. The Great Deluge investigates the failure of government at every level and breaks important new stories. Packed with interviews and original research, it traces the character flaws, inexperience, and ulterior motives that allowed the Katrina disaster to devastate the Gulf Coast.

Sprague, MarshallSo Vast, So Beautiful a Land: Louisiana and the Purchase Little, Brown and Company 1974 hardcover. The dustjacket is chipped.. BOOK COND: Used; Very Good. JACKET COND: Used; Good. Book #or814466. ISBN #0316807664 / 9780316807661. (keywords: American History) (filed under: Louisiana ) *Recounts how explorers discovered the Mississippi region and discusses the political, economic, and social factors that led to the Louisiana Purchase.

From the earliest colonists through the latest Mardi Gras, Louisiana has had a history as exotic as that of any state. Even its political corruption--extending from French governors for whom office was exploitable property through the "Louisiana Hayride" following the death of Huey Long--seems to have had a glamorous side. Handing the colony of Louisiana back and forth between their empires, the French and Spanish left a legacy that lives in such forms as the architecture of the Vieux Carre and a civil law deriving from the Napoleonic Code. Acadian refugees, German farmers, black slaves and free blacks, along with Italians, Irish, and the "Kaintucks" who helped Andrew Jackson win the Battle of New Orleans added to the state's distinctiveness. Made rich by sugar cane, cotton, and Mississippi River commerce before the Civil War, Louisiana faced poverty afterward. Battles between Bourbon Democrats and Reconstruction Republicans followed, ultimately involving the Custom House Ring and the Knights of the White Camelia. By methods that remain controversial, Huey Long ended "government by gentlemen" with economic transformations other had sought. Gas, oil, and industrialization have additionally "Americanized" the state. Something of Louisiana's historic joie de vivre remains, however, to the gratification of residents and visitors alike; both will enjoy Joe Gray Taylor's telling of the story.

$15.00

Walker, George T.The Building Of a University Taylor Pub. Co 1991 paperback. BOOK COND: Used; Very Good. JACKET COND: Used; Very Good. Book #or931397. (filed under: Louisiana ) *

$17.50

Women, and Brown, Maude G. National League of American PenVignettes of Louisiana history Claitor's Pub. Division 1967 hardcover. BOOK COND: Used; Very Good. JACKET COND: Used; Good. Tears and damage to jacket. Book #or1065980. (filed under: Louisiana ) *

Women, and Brown, Maude G. National League of American PenVignettes of Louisiana history Claitor's Pub. Division 1967 hardcover. BOOK COND: Used; Very Good. JACKET COND: Used; Good. Tears and damage to jacket. Book #or1065980. (filed under: Louisiana ) *